Summary
The purpose of this essay is to analyze decidophobia and its impact on the managers of organizations that have defined their course of action through strategic planning. Decidephobia is defined as fear or fear of making decisions, some support elements or prognoses are analyzed so that the manager gets more information and overcomes the fear of decision-making.
Strategic planning is the part of strategic administration, where the courses of action of the organizations are established, through the elaboration of action strategies, which must be established and evaluated in due course; For all this, decisions are required, that is, not being decophobic.
introduction
In the present work we will carry out a brief analysis of the manager's ability to make decisions in the organization, especially about the manager's fear or fear of deciding, that is to say, decidophobia; We will discuss how this fear can harm companies, even when they are on a defined course, through strategic planning.
Through strategic planning, organizations provide themselves with mission, vision, objectives, philosophy, values, strategies, policies, goals and resources to face the future, that is, they acquire direction and indicate where to go. Strategic planning is a great tool for companies to be better managed, however the influence of the ability to decide or not, of their leaders is not reduced.
Fear of decisions is in many ways a terror of the consequences of taking the wrong path, however, as we will see throughout this essay, deciding is part of life itself, there is no human activity where individuals do not see themselves. faced with the need to choose a course of action among several.
In a part of the article, we will discuss some support tools for making decisions, such as forecasts, which support a manager from obtaining as much useful information as possible so that the decision is as informed as possible, that is to say to reduce the chances of failure.
II. Background
Decision making is part of people's lives, deciding and making mistakes is human, but it is also human to be right, the decision is present both in the family, work, love relationships, etc., we can say that it is the essence of freedom, there is a song by the Cuban Silvio Rodríguez, which textually points out "… anguish is the price of being oneself…", because exercising that freedom can lead us to certain levels of stress or anguish, for fear of Consequences that this may have, decidophobia is the fear of exercising our freedom, of being autonomous.
Not choosing is not deciding, people may come to fear the fact of making decisions, because they are afraid of the result of the same, that is, they are afraid of facing the adverse result of an error when deciding, this is what is commonly known as decidophobia.
Choosing is the basis of freedom, the ability of individuals to say yes or no, but it implies the ability to make decisions. The fear of deciding is also in human nature, various texts have been written about it from a psychological perspective, although there is very little material with an administrative approach. The decision is nothing more than taking a course of action among several alternatives, which can lead to different outcomes, so you may be afraid to take the less fortunate alternative.
Choosing well is the desire of all people, it makes us feel good about ourselves and we are lucky to make decisions, however this is not always the result obtained. From the point of view of the administration, especially of the administrative process, decision making is one of the core elements of the Directorate, for this reason, this paper aims to analyze the relationship between elements such as fear of decision making and strategic planning, which is an element of Strategic Management.
According to Koontz "the function of leading is defined as the process of influencing people to contribute to organizational and group goals…" (Koontz, 2008, p. 412). It is important to point out that the managers or directors of the organizations consider that decision-making is the fundamental element of their existence and of the position they occupy, unfortunately this function is not always fulfilled efficiently, since each of the actions that are executed within an organization, be it the size you want, depend directly on the characteristics of each leader or director.
To run a country, a non-profit organization, a company, a family or their own life, human beings must be able to decide, that is to say, make decisions, this is defined as “… the selection of an action project, among various alternatives; it is at the center of planning. A plan cannot be said to exist unless a decision - a commitment of resources, direction, or reputation - has been made ”(Koontz, 2008, p. 157).
Currently, modern organizations have to overcome great challenges, they have had to move towards new management schemes and new tools. Strategic Management stands out for its relevance and functionality, defined as “… the art and science of formulating, implementing and evaluating cross-functional decisions that allow the organization to achieve its objectives. This involves integrating administration, marketing, finance and accounting, production and operations, research and development, and computerized information systems to achieve organizational success. ” (Contreras, 2001, p. 4).
The strategist is defined as the one who designs the way in which a series of events will be carried out, based on a series of data or information relevant to the event in question; the concept is originally attributed to the Chinese general Sun Tzu, who in his work "The Art of War", refers to the various skills and talents that a general or strategists must have in a military campaign, if he wants to succeed, where a very important one is the ability to decide.
We can affirm that this new approach to administration allows us to look at the organization from an overall perspective and in a dynamic interrelation with its environment.
Strategic planning is defined as “… the process of 1) diagnosing the organization's external and internal environments, 2) deciding on a vision and a mission, 3) developing general goals, 4) creating and selecting general strategies to follow and 5) allocate resources to achieve the goals of the organization ”. (Hellriegel, 2005). In other words, through strategic planning, the organization's course of action is defined.
The existence of diverse currents of humanistic thought entering the areas considered by social-economic excellence, have allowed the development of various theses on the efficient and effective functioning of an organization derived from the executive or managerial behavior of its leader, then, then, it is of vital importance seriously consider this point of the aversion to decide or "decidophobia" as a constant and latent plague not only for the conformation but for the strengthening and development of any organization. Of course, within the administrative activities, especially those related to the economic or financial areas, the mathematical and accounting data cannot fail to be important, but what is transcendent is the decision that derives from their interpretation.That is why we need to make a series of considerations on the basis of strategic administration, which is one of the elements of the administrative process; To plan strategically, a series of actions must be carried out that will be preceded by decision-making by the leaders of the organizations.
In the rest of this paper, we will talk about the decision, the fears of making it and its involvement in the results of the organizations.
III. Development
Deciding is relevant at every step of people's lives, but in few areas is this action as relevant as when leading organizations, both social and for profit, the great leaders throughout history have been very emblematic personalities, both for Good or bad, to cite two examples of both sides of the coin, we have the Hindu leader Gandhi, whose conviction of the legitimacy of his claim for an India free from English rule, made him endure any test or penalty that was imposed on him, for he had already decided that his country had every right to be free and independent.
On the other hand, there is Hitler, a man who considered that the Germans were superior to the entire world and therefore decided that they were destined to rule the world, they considered themselves with the right to eliminate all those who did not agree with their concept.
In the life of organizations, managers are at the top of organizational pyramids, they are the people who have various responsibilities on their shoulders, including: motivation, supervision, communication and especially decision-making.
Many managers consider that decision-making is the basis of their work and that not carrying it out effectively is the greatest failure they can face, which is why, like many people, they have various fears of making decisions, that is, they become ill with decidophobia.
In business administration, managers must carry out the decision process based on a series of limitations from a personal perspective, the limitations are typical of the level of academic preparation, knowledge of the sector where their business operates, and communication skills. with the rest of the members of your organization, among others. Therefore, its decisions have an important degree of subjectivity, but not of importance, since although the decisions may be situational, they impact strongly on the life of an organization.
If it is considered that in any project that we initiate, it is this of any size, from the same business plan that an entrepreneur incipiently develops or a Stock Market Company with an international presence, the key element for the organization not only to exist but for that it remains in time is this first step of the administrative process that is planning, but well, not the traditional planning that tells us the how, who and why of the operation of the master plan; We speak that this first step must undoubtedly be Strategic Planning, since from this point we have to decide which direction or rather what is the objective that we pursue in shaping it.
When the manager faces the challenge that the success or failure of a project can mean substantially, starting from that first action that can be limited to just one word, either a "yes" or a "no", it must necessarily go through all the aversion and conflict processes described above; The important thing at this point is that a professional in the administrative area must know, know and master the different tools with which they can help to counteract their aversion to decision-making and, as previously stated, the most efficient and effective is the management of Strategic Planning, for which it must be taken into account that the quantitative methods that are applied in it,They will give us enough elements for the objective management of the situations that make up this first stage of our master plan.
There are two types of general methods: quantitative and qualitative.
Within the quantitative methods that occupy mathematical and statistical bases, the time series analysis methods use historical data to forecast the variable, being adequate when the data is stationary where the cyclical, trend and random components are highlighted, where there is an error. not explained. We must necessarily help from them in order to carry out an evaluation of the factors that affect and affect us to start the process of formation.
Other quantitative methods are the so-called causal methods, and they try to take into account factors that affect or are related to the variable that is to be predicted by looking for its dependency relationship through statistical analyzes on historical data, such as regression analyzes, models econometric.
The prognostic concept can be understood in a general way as “… the art and science of predicting future events. It may involve the use of historical data and its projection into the future through some type of mathematical model. It can be a subjective or intuitive prediction; it can be a combination of these - that is, a mathematical model adjusted by the manager's good judgment. ” (Heizer, 2009, p. 106)
It is evident that for different types of situations and companies, managers need some kind of forecast, differing in importance, frame of reference and administrative level. Some methods are more appropriate for certain time horizons, whether or not they should include importance to subjective values, some are suitable for forecasting trends while others are not. The forecast serves as the basis for developing a budget. Finally, qualitative methods based on subjective judgments are concerned when there is no historical information such as DELPHI based on expert judgment, or market research. These can be used in technology, social, political, environmental and legal forecasts where they are most appropriate in the long term as part of strategic planning.
We can define the Delphi method as "… a forecasting technique that uses a group process so that experts can make forecasts." (Heizer, 2009, p. 108).
Although some authors define the Delphi method as a projection method, given its significant use in this area, there is a surprising variety of other application areas.
Among the areas already developed are:
- Examination of the significance of historical events.Evaluation of possible budget allocations.Exploration of regional and urban planning options.Drawing of advantages and disadvantages associated with potential policy options.Development of causal relationships in complex economic and social phenomena.. Exposure of personal and social values priorities.
The result obtained with traditional methods is the aggregation of individual judgments and many times the judgments of people capable of influencing others predominate. On the other hand, the product obtained with the Delphi Method is different from individual judgment and its simple aggregation, since it is rather the result of a vision.
In decision making, the participation and commitment of the manager is important, since their guidance is required throughout the daily life of the company, strategic planning is long term, but it is accompanied by tactical planning (medium term) and in the short term, operational planning is created; all under the supervision and leadership of the executives, who will have to make the decisions that best suit and help to fulfill the strategic planning of the organization.
A manager who is fearful or unable to make decisions, to avoid risks or failures, is a drag on companies and will drag the organization down. The manager must be able to elaborate, implement and evaluate the strategy; Throughout this process, it must be an example of commitment, with the strategy adopted, but also a bulwark to make decisions so that it is implemented in all areas and at all levels; on the other hand, it must be able to evaluate the results of strategic planning and decide when to continue without changes, when to make adjustments and when to change strategy.
The strategic administration can help the manager to set the direction of the organization, but no direction is anything if you do not know how to make the decisions to follow it, that is to say, there is no place for decidophobia in strategic planning, since a decidophobic would nullify the benefits of strategic thinking.
IV. conclusion
In this work, we have tried to reflect on decision making, fear of deciding and its influence on strategic planning in an organization. Taking into account the importance of correct management and efficient and effective decision-making to achieve the objectives of an organization and for the sake of its importance in actions to improve its capacity to achieve projected productivity, we can say that the manager's ability to make decisions is decisive.
The executive will make the decisions that allow the organization to achieve the strategic objectives, the mission, the vision and, of course, the mechanisms that must be used to achieve what is planned in it.
It is true that since a decision is nothing more than taking a course of action among several alternatives, this must be practiced at all times and the manager has in his favor the use of various forecasting techniques, both qualitative and quantitative and even a mixture of both; But there will always be a level of uncertainty, so a manager must be able to get the most tools to make complex decisions, but without forgetting that not deciding can be more expensive than making a partially correct decision.
V. Bibliographic References
- Contreras, J. (2001). Strategic management. Toluca: Autonomous University of the State of Mexico, Heizer, J. &. (2009). Operations Management Principles. Mexico: Pearson Prentice Hall, Hellriegel, D. (2005). Administration, a competency-based approach. Mexico: Thompson.Koontz, HW (2008). Management a global and business perspective. Mexico: McGraw-Hill.
